Apox Box Part Four: Factional Treasure
Summary: In this episode of the ongoing Apocalypse Box saga, the adventurers go on a pleasant excursion to the Ruins on Charr, but unexpected Decepticon presence (Decepticons? On Charr??) forces them to employ subterfuge and restraint to conduct their further investigations. Nautrally, they fail to execute this as intended, but do finally discover that Decepticon's Apocalpyse Artifact is most likely not on Charr. Landing Pad ' ''The smell of heated tarmac hits you first as you survey the landing and liftoff point for all flights to Cybertron. The wreckage of previous battles here are off to the back in a jumbled heap. To the southeast is the massive form of Autobot City itself, a bit battle-scarred, but still operational. Surrounding you on all other sides are forests of large conifer trees. The spaceport absolutely sparkles with a new shine - in fact, it's almost blinding in direct sunlight. Spots are a thing of the past, and each building has a brand new coat of paint. Even the *scrap* piles look like they've been cleaned off and straightened up. You enter the Autobot Shuttle < Ol' Rusty>. '''Autobot Shuttle < Ol' Rusty> The interior of the shuttle is very roomy. There is a highly technical cockpit that seats numerous bots at various stations, and a huge cargo area for additional troops or equipment. Mishap has arrived. Vigil has arrived. Nightbeat sits at the controls of the 'Ol Rusty, his favorite shuttlecraft. He's running through some pre-flight checks, although half the time when a sensor shows some malfunction or system failure, Nightbeat just bangs on a nearby panel until it to suddenly goes 'green' again. Mirage has arrived. Tec-Bike is perched in the co-pilot's seat, which he's ramped right up so he can reach the controls. "You know, I've always wanted to be able to fly one of these things" the minibot says, idly playing with the flight-stick and poking buttons that don't look particularly useful. "It'd make getting away so much easier." The futuristic beige and crimson motorbike quickly flips around, expanding and unfolding into the robotic form of Mishap. "I am not good at flying things, I prefer to fly myself." Vigil says as he is aboard, his body completely repaired. "So what are we going to do, if I may ask?" He asks, his voice echoing as if two voices were speaking. Mirage silently walks up the ramp and takes a seat, not interested in helping with the flying unless so asked. He's more concerned with getting in and leaving as quickly as possible. Fireflight has arrived. Fireflight enters the area and looks around. Nightbeat says, "Well...I've got a lead on the Apocalypse Box. We finally tracked down that Decepticon arm we found on Forestinia. It belonged to a guy named Windfall...he's kind of a no-name, so it took us a little while to track down where he'd been the past few centuries or so. Turns out he was last seen on Charr." Nightbeat puts away his padd with the 'mostly' completed preflight checklist of the ship's systems. "Which means, it's time for a little road trip." Fireflight dashes up the ramp, "Oh good, I'm not too late." He looks around for a place that will accommodate his winged back while keeping an audio, more or less, on Nightbeat's explanation. Mishap starts playing with what is probably the radio. "Apocalypse Box? I don't like the sound of that. Doesn't sound friendly at all. Wait.. what's inside it? Credits? Platinum? Quantum Gemeralds?" "With a name like Apocalypse box, I doubt it contains anything friendly." Vigil says as he raises his arms. Slots opens in his arms and energy pistols slide into both hands, before sliding back in the slots, slots closing. Mirage hm's a bit. "Charr is Decepticon territory, last I heard," he remarks quietly. "We'll have to be careful." "That could me just to scare people away from taking their gemeralds" replies Mishap optimistically. "If they named it Cash Box, everyone would be lining up to steal it." Fireflight considers a moment, "Well, who'd want that place anyway?" Wing-flaps flick as he continues, "We better make sure *they* don't get that box, just in case there is an apocalypse in there," he looks confused, "however that fits in." Nightbeat fires up the engine systems. "I'm always careful. Now if everyone would please strap in...this'll be quicker than you can believe." His hand inches towards the throttle. Mishap says, "I have a bad feeling about this." Outside, Ruins - East Outside, To the southwest, you can see the gleaming wall of the ice sheet as it rises into the sky. At its base, toppled stone buildings are slowly, inexorably being engulfed and plowed under. Farther from the glacier, the ruins remain standing, though fingers of ice push forward between them. Many buildings show collapsed roofs and cracked walls. The architechtural style looks primitive and uniform; all buildings seem to be hewn out of dark stone and show a square, flat-roofed design. Chilling winds blow off the ice sheet here too, sweeping the streets and wailing desolately through the abandoned dwellings. Outside, Contents: Scrapper Blue Spaceship Vigil does just that. He sits down and straps himself in. "Me too, but I dont care, so long as I can kill some decepticons." Nightbeat says, "Now we'll be transmitting a Decepticon shuttle ID. It took the Intel division about three hundred mech-hours to procure it, and we can probably only use it once before the Decepticons catch on and then we won't be able to use this trick again..." he shrugs. "But slag, it's for a good cause, right?" He checks the viewscreen. "All right, making our final approach to Charr right now. Everybody...uh...act Decepticon." "I don't want to kill anyone" Mishap replies. "It just gets you shot!" Outside, The spaceship flips up into the handsome form of Blueshift Outside, What is Blueshift doing in the ruins? What... is he doing in the ruins. "Scrapper!" he shouts, OOCly putting Scrapper on the spot. "What am I doing in the ruins?" Outside, Vortex has arrived. Outside, Swindle has arrived. Outside, "Asking stupid questions, that's what," Scrapper replies to Blueshift. Yes, Scrapper and Blueshift are in the ruins. What they seem to be doing is a standard geological survey of one of the Decepticons' primary military assets. Charr hasn't seen a lot of use lately, but Scrapper doesn't want to neglect it entirely. Monstereo has arrived. Fireflight watches out the window as the shuttle begins its approach to Charr, not commenting on the whole 'act Decepticon' thing. Outside, Greymalkin has arrived. Raptor has arrived. Outside, Blueshift is standing over a table that has been erected near the ruins, that has a map of the area on it. "Ugh Scrapper, what is it with you and all this 'science'? We are Decepticons, we should just destroy the entire area and convert it into energon so that Gal - MEGATRON'S mighty fist may crush the Autobots forever!" 'Act like a Decepticon', indeed. Mirage doesn't need to act like a Decepticon, unless he creates a hologram. But he can go invisible, so that's not always nessisary. It just all depends on how long this mission will take, really. So for now, he maintains his silence and just keeps an optic on the window, making sure they remain undetected. Outside, Swindle is surveying the scene, alternating between boredom and wondering if there might be anything of value worth loot--err, discovering on his own. "How do Decepticons act? Shout at people a lot and shoot things?" Mishap asks. "Sounds like most of the Autobots I know." Raptor grins wickedly, "That wont be hard at all--" His optics flare red for a moment as he chuckles. Nightbeat brings the shuttle down for a landing behind a particularly large chunk of ice. He turns to face the others. "Bad news, guys...I picked up quite a few Decepticon signatures on the way down. More than I counted on. I think this isn't gonna be as quiet and stealthy as I'd hoped. So, it's time for plan B." He walks back to a small supply closet in the back of the 'Ol Rusty. Inside are cans and cans of paint - Decepticon purple mostly, but also Battlecharger White along with plenty of Solid Black - and also a small stack of Decepticon temporary tattoo-style symbols. There's also a small stack of EDC and Junkion stickers, but Nightbeat quickly shoves those out of sight behind some other clutter. "Raptor, Fireflight...trust me, I'm not gonna like this any more than you guys." That's probably not true, but Nightbeat is working on his people skills. Vigil sighs and his own optics go red. "Want me to go out there first, acting as a guard?" He asks nightbeat, watching the autobot who is in charge. Outside, Scuffling, scratching sounds briefly fill the air and then there's a soft growl as Greymalkin leaps up onto the table, landing almost directly in Blueshift's line of sight, dipping his head down to look at what the bigger mech is talking about. He growls again and settles back on his haunches, tail curling around his paws as he obscures a section of the map with his body. Monstereo perks at the Act Like A Decepticon Thing since that's what he's logged on to. "O RLY?" He disappears into the ship cargo hold and returns with paint and airbrush equipment. "Evil is in this year?" "Hey, who said I was complaining." Raptor smirked, "After all, I've been called Half-breed and Starscream-wanna-be." He the autobot seeker muses. After all, he was one of the few autobots who could fly in either form. He looks at the stickers and then at his wings, "Lets hope those are large enough to cover the emboss work.." Outside, Blueshift jumps back as Greymalking leaps onto the table, and pulls a face at the snarling, sniffling creature. "Uuuugh Scrapper, I think its a sweep! Get it off! Shoo! Shoo!" he shouts, waving his hands Outside, "Science," Scrapper says at Blueshift, already annoyed with the spaceship mech, "Is what drives the Decepticon Empire. It's on the backs of science that all of our progress and our success comes from. The Autobots would overwhelm us with technology and we'd be doomed without science on our side. Now stop asking stupid questions and keep looking around." Looking off into the distance where Scrapper knows Swindle is, he calls out. "Hey, Swindle! Find anything yet?" He very pointedly ignores Blueshift's dealings with Greymalkin. "Starscream?" Vigil says to Raptor looking to him. and his wings. "Half-breed? You dont look half anything." He says, watching the other winged autobot, his own wings raise so Monstereo can paint over the emblems. Outside, The tape-cat stares balefully at Blueshift, one optic ridge arching slightly before he brings one paw up and starts to groom as if he were a real cat. At Scrapper's commentary Greymalkin's head turns slightly to look over towards Swindle, curious himself if the combaticon had turned up anything interesting. Outside, Vortex stays back with Swindle, watching the nearby chaos. "What do you make of all this?" he asks. Fireflight 's look of curiosity at Raptor's sudden burst of humor turns to, "You're kidding... you're not kidding." as Nightbeat brings out and readies his supplies. "You know, the only time I've ever seen a Decepticon with wings like mine was that time a bunch of us got bent into those weird old Terran vehicle modes..." He doesn't look happy about the whole thing, but at least isn't backing off. Outside, Swindle jumps, turning toward Scrapper's location. "Nothing yet," he says. "This place is as borin' as one of Onslaught's strategy lectures. You sure there's anything even *worth* lookin' for here?" Outside, Blueshift starts to stalk round the cat suspiciously. "Uuuugh Scrapper seriously, forget about science and just get back to non-science stuff like building doomsday weapons." He makes swatting motions at Greymalkin again. "This is the worst job ever" Raptor glances over to Vigil, "I think it was more of an insult due to the fact I look like a Seeker of modern earth time. The only difference between myself and the seekers is that I ahve the autobot symbol embossed into my wings and that I'm a more 'modern' jet fighter, being the F-22..." He shakes his head, "After all, rare for any autobot to be able to keep up with a seeker and be able to fly like one or even fight like one." He blinks, "By the way, I don't think we met," He places out his hand, "The name is Raptor." Mirage glances at the paint and decals in distaste. He's no Tracks or Sunstreaker, but he does not like having to alter his appearance beyond holograms. "How will we mask our energy signatures?" He asks, raising an optic-ridge faintly before he pulls down the half-mask from within his helm over the upper-half of his face. "I think I shall remain with the 'silent and sneaky' approach, personally. The rest of you can get costumed, as far as I'm concerned." Mishap says, "Listen.. I've got a better idea.. why don't we go to Monacus instead. Forget this Apocrafits Box, I know this great casino which has this pool of hot oil, and all the soma-laced fuel you can drink. What do you say?" Vigil looks to the hand and shakes it. "Vigil. I was designed to combat Decepticon forces in space. I am capable of flight in both modes, and can traverse in space in both modes." Vigil explains to him, nodding to him. "Seekers...So your designed like them?" He asks the other autobot. Outside, Greymalkin shifts slightly, the paw he -had- been grooming with now swatting playfully as Blueshift swats at him, as if he's playing with the spacer. His tail has started twitching during this exchange, and his optics have turned a darker shade of red than usual, his fangs starting to poke out of his mouth. Monstereo unscrews his helmet horns just enough to have them pointing forward in a more aggressive looking manner. He then grabs a dark purple, the exact color spectrum opposite of his prominent orange scheme, and starts spraying his orange armor. "I can't forget about the box. It keeps me awake at night. It is very mysterious, you know." Fireflight points out, "There're Decepticons with jet modes that look about the same age as yours, Raptor, just not as many as those F-15 guys," as he watches Raptor and Vigil with interest. Outside, "Not really," Scrapper calls out back to Swindle. "But we're considering expansions here to the Charr base, and I'd like to know if anything is worth something here before I have Bonecrusher turn it into dust." Decepticons care not for preserving fascinating ruins if they are in their way. Shooting Blueshift a look, he snorts, "Doomsday devices /is/ science, you twit." He silently tries to use mind rays to make Greymalkin kill Blueshift. Nightbeat recolors himself Battlecharger white. It's not the worst cover he's ever assumed. Luckily, those guys have a pretty simple paint scheme. He glances at Mirage. "Energy sigs? We might just have to hope nobody scans you too carefully." Then he looks over at Mishap, frowning slightly. Well, when you need all the help you can get...you take all the help you can get. Putting a few finishing touches of Decepticon purple on his 'disguise', he heads for the exit hatch of the shuttle. Then he stops and looks over at Vigil. "You're not ready yet? C'mon, get a move on...the longer we're parked here the more the chance they'll find us." He gestures at some cans of purple paint. Welp, everyone is ignoring Mishap, but he's used to that. "Fine" he sighs, lowering the co-pilot seat to the floor and wandering over to the box of paint, begining to turn himself into a black repaint. "But this isn't going to work you know." Raptor nods his head, "Correct. I was designed for a project-- that pretty much i guess you can say got shut-down. I was designed to compete and defeat the seekers of the time of the Great War on Cybertron before the autobots left the planet." He cants his head, "Space huh? I guess I lost my bragging rights." He muses. Raptor then allows the 'techs' here to attach pannels over the emboss wings gently and place the sticker on there so he looks a bit like a decepticon. Then he ponders over his color scheme and decided to ask for a repaint for now to black and midnight blue. Raptor shuts down his optics for a moment, seeming deep in thought as he speaks, trying to psych himself up for this. His voice is sounding a tad gruffer as he speaks, "I guess I just haven't met them yet, however." He looks over to Fireflight and his optics flare crimison red, "Perhaps I'll have my chance too." As he puts on a cruel smirk. Outside, Swindle grunts, figuring anything worth having was scaveneged years ago but, there's always that nagging doubt of 'what if?' lurking in the back of ihs mind. "Hey! Vortex!" he yells. 'Help me look for something worth...y'know..having." You leave the Autobot Shuttle < Ol' Rusty>. Ruins - East From Autobot Shuttle < Ol' Rusty>, Mirage dims his now-yellow optics as he smirks. "You don't need to worry about me, Nightbeat. I was asking more about the rest of you, but so be it." The energy box appears around him and he bows. "Until we return back here, then." And with that, he disappears and makes his way outside as well. From Autobot Shuttle < Ol' Rusty>, Monstereo finally finishes himself up by slapping on a sticker and then mounting his Sonic Rifle on his shoulder with the help of a chain and some duct tape. "B ah weep grah nah weep and mourn, sissy bots." Vortex nods "Right. What exactly are we lookin for again?" From Autobot Shuttle < Ol' Rusty>, Vigil nods. He moves to the purple cans of paint and paints all the white on him purple and applies the decepticon markings along his wings, nodding to Raptor. "Dont worry about losing those rights. The first mission I was on, my team died and I was the one to report it a failure." He says before leaving. Mirage leaves the Autobot Shuttle < Ol' Rusty>. Mirage has arrived. Vigil leaves the Autobot Shuttle < Ol' Rusty>. Vigil has arrived. Blueshift would roll his optics at Scrapper if they could roll. "Doomsday devices aren't science, Scrapper, they're...." he pauses, waving his hands. "They're /stuff/, you know what it is!" He picks up a spade and starts to hack at an old stone wall. "Uuuugh science" Swindle shrugs. 'I dunno, somethin' valuable..." (and preferably portable) he thinks. "Scrapper wants t'make sure there's nothing worth having here before he lets Bonecrusher wreck the place." From Autobot Shuttle < Ol' Rusty>, "I'm just surprised you didn't see that F-35 at the last Olympics," Fireflight comments as he looks over the supplies. "She won a couple of medals - again. You'll want a wingman when you do meet her." Finally, he settles on black wings with a white body, near-reversing his usual scheme. Nightbeat pokes his head around the edge of a large block of ice (behind which is hidden the Autobot shuttle). When he sees the coast is relatively clear, he steps out into the open, transforms and starts slowly driving for the ruins. He bangs into small blocks of ice and makes unenthusiastic 'wild' noises along the way. "Wheee. Yeee-haw. Coming through." he deadpans. From Autobot Shuttle < Ol' Rusty>, With a few final touches of purple detailing, and oh yes, the decals, Fireflight is finally ready to go. From Autobot Shuttle < Ol' Rusty>, Mishap gives his now black form a once over, the red-tinted lenses he's wearing over his normal blue ones making everything look kinda funny. "Maybe I should just stay in the ship. In case we need to take off in a hurry." Nightbeat transforms into vehicle mode. Monstereo leaves the Autobot Shuttle < Ol' Rusty>. Monstereo has arrived. Fireflight leaves the Autobot Shuttle < Ol' Rusty>. Fireflight has arrived. Fireflight enters the area and looks around. Vigil flies into the air, not too high, but to keep from walking. He flies at high speed after Nightbeat, watching the car. Scrapper goes back to sifting through the debris. "Hey, a pot!" he says, holding up the cracked pot of some alien ceremic design. "Well I'll just go ahead and put this in the 'keep' category." The engineer puts the pot into a pile. A pile of one item. The pot. These ruins suck, Scrapper thinks to himself. He doesn't notice the approach of the 'fellow Decepticons' just yet. From Autobot Shuttle < Ol' Rusty>, Raptor smirks, "I may have--" He then steps out, flexing his fingers as he does so, then as he makes it slightly out, his anti-gravs kick on and his is now hovering half an inch off te ground. Raptor leaves the Autobot Shuttle < Ol' Rusty>. Raptor has arrived. Greymalkin has grown bored, so he stands up and trots to the other end of the table, jumping down and padding over towards Scrapper before settling onto his haunches again, staring up at the Constructicon with big red optics. From Autobot Shuttle < Ol' Rusty>, Mishap says, "Oh fine." Mishap leaves the Autobot Shuttle < Ol' Rusty>. Mishap has arrived. Monstereo the purple not-Junkion with /forward/ pointing horns and a cool sonic weapon mounted super aggressively upon a shoulder peeks around the corner and then waits to see the coast is clear and glances back at the others, giving a thumbs up. he starts a run in the same direction as Nightbeat. As Blueshift smacks the wall with his spade, a golden statue falls out. "Ugh, more junk!" he moans, throwing it on the ground and shooting it with his lasers. "Why can't we find anything good Scrapper, like... oooh!" He picks up an unremarkable piece of rock and throws it on /his/ 'keep' pile, that is full of bits of rock. He then does a doubletake as the Autobots arrive. "Hey hey, this is OUR mission, not yours!" he shouts angrily. "I bet you anything Megatron didn't order you guys here, whoever you are!" Mirage leaves the shuttle and goes in a completely different direction than the other 'Decepti-bots', moving quickly and as silently as possible to take up more of a surveillance role. Sometimes the direct approach is best, but there are others when subtlity works even better--and the correct mix of both is best of all. After all, that's how Jayson was recovered from the Argosy. Raptor kicks off into the sky and follows the rest of the crew. His crimson optics scan below, as he passes past Vigil in sheer speed, banks around over the other group of decepticons, before he transforms into a F-22 to conserve energy, and then heads back toward the main group. That Black and Midnight blue paint making him hard to see against the dark sky and the decepticon symbol noticable on his wings. With total ease and agility, Raptor transforms into a sleek F-22. Americon has arrived. "What are you looking at?" Scrapper asks Greymalkin, even though it's probably a rhetorical question. The mecha-tiger doesn't seem to be very talkative. He returns the look with the big red optics with a cold but relaxed glance. He doesn't notice what exactly Blueshift shot. This is good since ironically Scrapper needs gold for an upcoming project. "Huh?" He looks up as the Autocons (Deceptibots?) arrive. He peers at them, not noticing any of the newcomers as he waits for Blueshift's comments to be answered. Tricked-Out Pontiac slows down as he approaches and is challenged. Uh oh. Well, time to get into character. "Who am I?! Are your optics on the fritz?! I'm a battlecharger! My name's, uh...Runaway. Runaway!" Even though he was slowing down a second ago, he suddenly revs his engine and speeds up, almost ramming to Blueshift. "And as Megatron always says, there's no 'ours' in 'mine'!" A mostly black jet-former with touches of white and purple waits for that guy with the horns to get where he's going, then runs down the ramp, transforming into a F-4 flying low after the others and then circling menacingly once Blueshift spots his allies and starts yelling at them. Well, he hopes they take it that way, but anyway, it gives him a chance to get a good look around the place, and even if it is ugly it's something he doesn't see every cycle. "On the contrary, he did order us here to make sure you dont screw up." Vigil says to the one who yells at them, his voice altered greatly, resembling more of two growling voices. "If you want to question the almighty Megatron, go right ahead, I got dibs on your weapons when he destroys you." It shouldn't be possible to cringe and strut at the same time, but somehow Mishap manages it as he trails along behind the other 'Decepticons', alternating between an expression of fear and what he things is badass, though for the most part he just looks constipated. Quickswitch has arrived. Blueshift shakes his fist at Nightbeat as he leaps out of the way. "Argh, MORE Battlechargers? I thought it was illegal to make any more of you guys. Next thing you know, Upfork will be turning up! This is the worst day ever!" He throws his spade to one side, which hits a wall that shatters, releasing a spray of precious jewels. He angrily stamps on them, reducing them to dust. "Rubbish rubbish RUBBISH!" he shouts "Heh, yeah, Megatron does say that a lot," Scrapper chuckles in a good natured way. Still, he's never heard of a third Battlecharger. Are Runabout and Runamuck really so stupid that they'd forget to ever mention a third member of their little group? The answer comes to Scrapper as quick as he asks it. Yes. Yes they are. Scrapper peers at Vigil, "Megatron knows we're here?" He sounds confused. Greymalkin completely ignores the new-comers, choosing instead to continue staring up at Scrapper, knowing full well that this sort of thing is unnerving from time to time. Finally though, his attention turns as Blueshift is forced to dive out of the way. The cat regards the new arrivals and rather abruptly bounds to his feet, jogging over to get a closer look at them, a sound akin to a growling purr accompanying his movements. Swindle succeeds in his 'sense valuable object' roll, turning in time to see Blueshift crushing the gems under his feet. "Blueshift!" he wails. "What do you think you're DOING!?" Americon succeeds in grasping Scrapper, throwing him off-balance. Robotic Bald Eagle suddenly perches on top of Scrapper's head, and flaps his wings a few times before folding them up and settling down. His head snaps around as he looks at everyone present in a vaguely avian way. "Wait, were those GEMERALDS?" perks Mishap, echoing Swindle and hurrying over to the Combaticon and the blue Croissant, fear for the moment subsumed by greed. "Of course he does. Do you think any decepticon activities go out from under him?" Vigil says, sounding more annoyed. He approaches nightbeat and looks at the one who seemed to be in command. The F-22 flies over and transforms beside Vigil, "Load of scrap, wouldn't you say. Haha, Thinking that Megatron honestly doesn't know what is going on." He gruffs out a bark of a laugh. Raptor transforms swiftly into his robotic form, with his optics for a split moment flashing vividly. Blueshift glares at Mishap and his black paintjob. "You're not... Japanese are you?" before he turns back to Swindle. "Nonono, its okay, I was getting rid of the worthless stuff to get to THIS!" He reaches down to pick up a... normal looking rock. "See, look at this beauty, Megatron will reward me for sure!" Swindle just *stares* at Blueshift, the way someone might stare at a bicycle riding fish or some other insane creation of the universe. "...That's...that's...you..." He looks at the ground. "..you...are we another SPECIES or something!? Are you INSANE!!?" "Why would Lord Megatron be worried about me screwing something up? He usually has more trust in me than that..." Scrapper says. It's tough to tell whether Scrapper is hurt that Megsy doesn't have faith in him, or suspicious of Vigils BLATANT LIES AND TREACHERY. Either way, Scrapper has other problems as Swindle seems upset at Blueshift (Scrapper sides with Swindle by default) Greymalkin seems intent on glaring at him, and Americon lands on his head. "Ugh..." Scrapper facepalms, "This is worse than that time we raided African Lion Safari..." Mishap's optics flicker. "No, I'm M...Mmmonarch. Monarch." he says, already poking around in the dirt for more gems. "Hey, the rocks aren't some sort of life form that reflects whatever scanning things you send at them are you? That happened once." "I am talking about that idiot screwing up." Vigil says, pointing to Blueshift. "Unless you really would like to put your life in that idiot's hands." Blueshift kicks at some spider-like creatures that scuttle across the ground clumsily. "Oh Monarch yeah, I know you. What's your motivation again, that one always confused me." He scratches his head as he makes rude gestures at Swindle. "So uh, what ARE you guys all doing here anyway?" The tape-cat prances around the group of Deceptibots, appearing to examine them curiously. He gets right up close to 'Runaway' and sniffs, almost touching his nose to the car. Mirage remains a slight distance away from the brewing chaos, scanning the area while also keeping an optic on the Decepticons' activities. It seems like there are some signs of ancient life here at the ruins, but is there anything of note? Robotic Bald Eagle growls, "MONARCH! That sounds British!" He squints his little eagle eyes at Mishap. "I don't trust British! They have odd habits, obsess over tea, talk funny, and they do, like weird things!" He shuffles his talons around a bit on Scrapper's head. Quickswitch stands on the idle by. Sterm, solid, painted up in grey, black and orange. He unfolds his arms, issuing in a clipped, carefully level tone despite his internally cracking circuits. "Can we do something other than go on and on and on about the humans?" he sighed with a bit of static, his yellow optics scan through the Decepticons. Blueshift. That aft. He grits his jaw servos together. Raptor shakes his head and crosses his arms over his chest as he hovers there. Remaining silent for the moment. Tricked-Out Pontiac <"Runaway"> drives slowly away from Blueshift, heading for a nearby section of the ruins where most of the real Decepticons aren't digging yet. On the way he goes around the corner of a crumbling building, so that Greymalkin is between him and the building. "We're, uh...we're digging! Just like you! -- Hey what's that?!" He suddenly accelerates, going so close that if Greymalkin doesn't move might get pinned between the 'Battlecharger' and the wall! (or at least sideswiped). "I don't know, no-one tells me anything." Mish..Monarch replies to Blueshift, then looks up at Americon with a paniced impression. "British? Me! Oh no! No no! I'm from Cybertron! Hail Megatron! And..um.. Shockwave! Hail Shockwave too!" "Oh," Scrapper replies to Vigil, outright convinced by that comment. He still has Americon on his head, but at least Greymalkin is no longer staring at him. Scrapper waves his hand at Americon, trying to shoo the bird off. "Hail Megatron. And anyone else who needs hailing," Scrapper chimes in response to that Monarch fellow, as per Decepticon customs. "Well, we're digging too, okay you jerks!" shouts Blueshift as he angrily sticks his shovel into the ground. "So uh Monarch, didn't you have that story about how you killed that minibot? Tell it again, I liked that one.." Vigil nods and begins to go to work digging. He watches Blueshift and sighs. "No wonder we were sent, this idiot would rather hear stories then follow his orders." He says gruffly. The cat may not be particularly agile, but he's small enough that he can move. He jumps up and starts hovering as the car pushes towards him. The purr is replaced by a quite definitive growl and he swipes at the roof of the car as he darts towards Americon, dropping to the ground beside Scrapper. Greymalkin growls up at the bird in greeting before turning his attention to his claws again. Raptor glances down at Blueshift, "Hey Blueshift, why don't ya shut your trap and get back to work! Maybe then they wouldn't take your digging! Ha!" Blueshift flicks his head up as Raptor speaks. "Hey... you look very familiar. Very familiar indeed. Speak a bit more..." He starts to stroke his chin "Earth lover," he--uh, he didn't have a name picked out?--shifted into the form of a puma, the colors of a Predacon, "...You will get to work, or I will motivate you..." he issued icily, iron authority, grating his claws on the ground. Faster than the eye can follow, Quickswitch transforms into an assault beast. Robotic Bald Eagle SQUAWKS as a lime green hand is waved at him, and he springs off, unfurling his wings. As he passes by Greymalkin, he returns the cat-like growl even though he is in bird mode. After using an inappropriate vocalization, Americon sets himself drifting around the group in circles. He looks at all the others assembled, as if looking for another perch. "HM! Ok, Monarch! I will believe you for now, but just try to remember that the only King we recognize in America is Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll! Forget that for an instant and I will peck out your optics!" Mishap doesn't know what to do! What would a Decepticon do? Something violent and stupid! "Yeah" Mishap/Monarch says, straightening up with a desperate expresion, circuit-freezing pistol in one hand. "I killed him like THIS, you stupid slagging dumbaft! Stop asking stupid slagging QUESTIONS!" Mishap strikes Blueshift with his Circuit Freezing Pistol attack. Raptor floats down to look right at Blueshift optic to optic. Those crimson optics staring right down at him, his voice gruff, "Do I now, maybe that is because I'm your worse nightmare and if you don't work, I'll make sure Megatron kicks your sorry aft right into the smelting pits!" In the back of the auto-seekers mind he is hopeing that Blueshift didn't say 'Starscream'. Hopefully the black and midnight blue paintjob hides allot of.. himself? Then when Mishap fired, The seeker quickly spun out of the way and barked over at him, "Hey! What's the big idea you scrap-heap! You could have hit me!" He snarls, "Do a stunt like that again and /I'll/ send ya to the scrap heap as well!" "Hey!" Blueshift emits. "You're totally StaAAAARGH!" Mishap's blast hits him in the back of the head, and he falls down HARD onto the ground... And then falls THROUGH the ground and into a crack in the earth! "This is nothing. He embarasses us in front of the Autobots too all the time." Scrapper tells Vigil. "How he ever made it to the front lines is beyond me. He ought to be toiling away with you guys as far as I'm concerned." His tone doesn't suggest any menace behind those words, though the possibility of having Shift with you is probably a threat in of itself. With Americon off of him, Scrapper gestures at Greymalkin. "Go at him. I sure don't mind," he tells the Cassetticon. He stops and peers at Monarch and Blueshift. "Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!" he chants. Assault Beast flicks his optics toward Greymalkin and rests there a moment, rumbling, he looks back over the others, "I'll send *all* of you to the crap yeap if ya don't shut the frag up and get to WORK--!!" then, he remembers--he can't transform. Not here. Not how he wants. "Har har har" says Mishap with a frozen grimmace, before turning to Swindle. "Now let's dig up all those gems and get out of here as quickly as possible." Seems he's already forgotten about why exactly they're here. "Ooh, maybe the pit he fell into has some in it! After you..." Monstereo grunts and looks all broody like a dullard thug...arms folded. This explains his low key silence. And likely more to come. Swindle looks over at Mishap. "...what d'you mean "we", buddy?" he snarls. "Any gems here? They're MINE..." He pauses, yeah, he said that out loud...dangit. "..err...an' of course, Megatron's...but if he doesn't want 'em, they're MINE!" From the crack in the earth, Blueshift's voice echoes up. "Uuuugh Monarch, come down here so I can PUNCH YOU in the HEAD. But first you have to get my leg free because it is stuck on something! Something shiny and golden!" Mishap looks around, then leans in to Swindle. Mishap mutters to Swindle, "Look,... more... one, and I know this guy... able... sort out..." Mirage silently moves away from his current surveilance spot and quickly makes his way towards where Blueshift had fallen, avoiding the Decepticons and Autocons alike. Shiny and golden, hm? He has to wonder what that's all about... although he only moves slightly to peer into the hole before moving back to avoid getting accidentally bumped into. Greymalkin ignores Scrapper and instead pads over to peer down into the crack that Blueshift tumbled into. He settles onto his haunches, making no move to assist, but instead just stares down at the idiot spacer. Raptor hrmphs and shakes his head, "I bet Blueshift couldn't even beat Monarch anyhow--" He flies back up slightly as he hears Blueshift said he found something and raises an optical ridge, "Oh really.." He glances over to Vigil, "Think we out give the dumb-bolts a hand?" "You say I am the same as that piece of slag?!" Vigil says as he moves up to Scrapper. "Dont you dare compare me in the same category as that aft!" he yells at the green thing. Robotic Bald Eagle gasps, "Oh, no! Blueshift is in danger! Without him, who will we turn to for cannon fodder and unsafe medical experiments!? Do not worry, I will pull you out of there, even though you weigh several times my own body weight!" He dives into the hole, barely missing Greymalkin's head, and soon there is a loud crashing noise. "OW!" Nightbeat says, "Ok guys...I don't see anything promising over here. The Decepticons have been all over this place already. Maybe they're digging in the wrong place. I'm gonna head for the Glacier, I think maybe I think maybe I see something under the ice over there." "You say I am the same as that piece of slag?!" Vigil says as he moves up to Scrapper. "Dont you dare compare me in the same category as that aft!" he yells at the green thing. He then turns to Raptor. "I think we should leave them there, maybe the planet will get rid of them for us." He says growlingly. Mishap says, "I'll stay here with the ge... with the Decepticons and keep an eye on them." From where Blueshift is comes the sound of struggling. "UUuugh my leg is stotally stuck on this gold thing, and it is all sparkly like stupid crystals too, how lame is this!" Vigil says, "I want to stab these idiots." Tricked-Out Pontiac <"Runaway"> gets to the edge of the ruins, and then spies a rough, winding path leading up into the glacier. He starts to head stealthily towards it...then remembers his cover and peels out, slipping and sliding his way up, hooting and shouting all the way. You move southwest to the Glacier. Glacier A continental glacier over a kilometer thick has formed here in the frigid southern hemisphere. Parts of its surface are unbroken expanses of pure ice, gleaming white in the darkness, while other areas are fractured with deep crevasses that plunge down into torrents of rushing water in the deepest layers of the ice sheet. Fed by unpredictable blizzards, the glacier slowly crawls north. At its northwestern-most edge, the white ice has become gray with a dusting of fine volcanic ash. The ambient temperature is almost low enough to freeze the energon in one's fuel lines. Contents: Buried Bunker Monstereo arrives from the Ruins - East to the northeast. Monstereo has arrived. Quickswitch says, "I'm trying not to transform..." Mirage arrives from the Ruins - East to the northeast. Mirage has arrived. Quickswitch arrives from the Ruins - East to the northeast. Quickswitch has arrived. Monstereo says, "Can you hold it till we get to a rest stop?" Quickswitch sighs in disgust, "I don't find that funny at all." Monstereo says, "And that's why my milkshake is better than yours." Tranquil Beachcomber says, "You gotta chill, man." Mirage says, "Have all of you forgotten what kind of mission you're on right now?" Mishap says, "A gem finding mission?" Monstereo witholds sarcasm.... silence. Quickswitch snarls, "DON'T--! Hey, man, I'm just trying to concentrate and not blow, you know, this..." Mirage says, "I advise maintaining your silence." Countdown says, "What are you trying to blow, Quickstrike?" Quickswitch says, "One of my gaskets." Americon arrives from the Ruins - East to the northeast. Americon has arrived. Monstereo keeps up his Decepti-guise. "Grumblerumblebumblebeemumble." What's that coming from the Northeast? Oh, no it's Laserbe--wait, false alarm, it's just Americon. Phew. Tricked-Out Pontiac <"Runaway"> leads the way towards another set of ruins. "Hmm...don't see any sign of Decepticons -that- way. Maybe that's -- Uh, I mean," he raises his voice and adds a touch of Battlecharger wildness as Americon shows up. "Look over THERE! More ruins! Let's go check it out!" You move northwest to the Ruins - West. Ruins - West From what little remains standing here, a disorganized mixture of building styles and materials can be seen. Some buildings are small, squared-off and made of stone; others are more elaborate and constructed of metal. Some look like a strange conglomeration of both. Most only have a wall or two left standing. A litter of broken stone blocks and tarnished metal sheets and spires lies all around. This area shows the obvious damage of once having been raked over by ice flows when they were farther north. Raptor arrives from the Glacier to the southeast. Raptor has arrived. Monstereo roars enthusiastically, "Rar kill ruins!" He then slows his running to a jog. "Er no....I mean... Search ruins... then Ironmanowarmachine can kill ruins when done with them arrrrrr!" He finds his inner decepticon character at last. It may need some refinement, but then again he isn't planning on needing it long or ever again for that matter. The Junkion in Decepticon disguise resumes his running to catch up. As he gets closer and closer he puts an arm across the hood armor plating of his chest. "Arrr... too many twinkies...." Ligier JS-11 remains far back and hides himself within the ruins, then decloaks as he lets his power systems recharge. He's still keeping an optic on what's going on, but he's being far more cautious now more than ever. Raptor flies past Monstereo and chuckles, his crimson optics flicker as he catches up to the others, "My my, you are all so slow.." Yea, Raptor was good at the con role-- no wonder long ago, he had a control-program installed into him. Robotic Bald Eagle flies over Monstereo's head, and bobs his head in agreement. "YEAH! Kill the ruins!" He fires a few blasts from his eye lasers at the ruins, scoring holes in some of the stone buildings. "Wait, what? Don't kill them? You're no fun." He grumbles to himself. Tricked-Out Pontiac <"Runaway"> drives down a street, to an area where the ground has been raked over by the moving glacier years and years ago. "This might be as good a spot as any to get started...hey you! Americon! Let's start digging. Uh, for America!" Despite his words, he pulls to a stop at the edge of the area and waits. Monstereo shakes a fist up at Americon, "Kill ruins after done with them! Until then, think how to do it most fun way raaaarrrr!" He amazes up at the brightly coloured Decepti-eagle Tape... could that be Americon with a different mode? Monstereo recognizes the paint scheme and different bits and pieces that could turn into the robot. Soundwave is so far ahead in his Tape collection. "Dagnabbit." He knocks on hsi chest armor a couple times and then looks to physically shake off a thought or feeling. The thin seam of his openable hood starts to let slip out a very faint glowing light he doesn't notice. He's too bust looking tough and looking about this place as he draws near it. Assault Beast did not have to try at the disguise role. Apart from not transforming. It was a paint job and restraint of four modes. That was it. No embellishment of his personality. He cocked his head. More than curious, it troubled him. Was it really true? He reached the edge beside Runaway and peered at the ruins, transformed, two very large, black blasters in his hands-- Quickswitch springs up into his massive robot mode. Raptor hovers there and chuckles, "I'll dig, but only for Megatron." He glances from where he came, "And where the slag.. ah.. probably still messin with that Scrapper." He waved his hand and landed down. He picks up a shovel. "I don't see why we have to do the dirty work-- after all, isn't this the Constricons job?" He slams the shovel into the ground. "Fraggin whatever--" Robotic Bald Eagle answers Monstereo's inner musings by transforming into his robot mode. He lands near the spot indicated by Nightbeat and begins to scrape away at the ground with his bare hands. "Oh, boy! There are many things I would do for America! Even digging in the middle of nowhere for hours!" Americon undergoes a patriotic transformation into his All-American robot mode! Ligier JS-11 remains silent and hidden, just keeping an optic on what's going on. Quickswitch's cog twitched, he ached to transform to his drill tank mode, fought the reflexive action hard. Don't transform. Don't transform. Don't transform. Don't transform. Don't transform. He started pulling up at the ruins, any dislodging peaces he could reach, "...Silence. Do your duty." Raptor growls at Quickswitch and narrows his optics, "Who are you telling to silence you over grown, slag of bolts!" He slammed the shovel into the ground. "You want me to be silent-- then why don't you come over here and make me..." Those crimson optics flickered. He dug some and swung the dirt behind him. Monstereo resists his strong urge to cue a music file with his sound system... Don't be yourself. Don't lighten up this dreary Decepticon place with human culture. Don't be such a Junkion. You are Ironmanowarmachine, ruthless Decepticon! America by Neil Diamond stays holstered. He looks to everyone here one in turn, a slight grimace on his face. He rubs his chest once more, the faint glow from the seams around his hood cover is a little brighter now that he's here. He withdraws a shovel and starts to dig. Americon smiles happily as he scrabbles away tirelessly. He is very pleased to have this chance to serves his country! ...yeah, Soundwave kinda dropped the ball with him, but it wasn't entirely his fault. Tricked-Out Pontiac <"Runaway"> reverses back until he's next to Monstereo. As the Junkion goes by, Nighbeat hisses urgently in a low voice, "Psst! Uh, Ironmanowarmachine! You doing okay there?" Not only is light escaping from Monstereo's chest, but now tiny glowing particles start swirling around in the air around him. The closer he gets to where Americon is digging, the brighter and more noticeable the glowing particles. Americon is way, way, way too happy about digging for America to notice any odd glowing particles. For now, that is. Of course, the glow might be impossible to notice after a while... Quickswitch snarls in Raptor's direction, honest fury boiling up and setting his retouched optics glowing fierce gold--fury quaked his vocalizer, struggling to steady itself and keep that iron control. He raised his blasters, "...You will be silent and work, or as I said back there, I will motivate you..." his fingers twitched, tightened. Raptor glances over to Monstereo, "..Looks like the big, bad, boy has some issues with the ruins." Laughs, "Guess that is what you get for being built a ground-pounder." He pulls out the shovel and hrmphs. "Wish there was some autobots to beat around-- this is actually kinda boreing.." Raptor then smiled as the 'black and midnight blue' seeker looks over his shoulder at Quickswitch, oh his boredom was about to be satisfied. "Who made you the dig-cheif? I don't recall Megatron putting you in charge of this mission." Ligier JS-11 checks his power-levels for his special ability and quickly activates it, disappearing in a cube of light once again--although the glow of such is blocked by his cover. He drives out of that hiding spot and drives to a different area to return to a more passive surveillance role. He should really consider installing a better power-pack to his special ability so he can remain invisible for a longer time-period. Monstereo stops in his tracks and looks at himself. "I'm ... disco? What the slag?" Grunt. "Nothing I can't handle. Nothing to see here." He tries to assure himself, then asides to Nightbeat, "I've got that thing with me..." He taps his chest. He didn't. Groundpounder--good name--is just that steely and overbearing, "/Someone's/ gotta be!" he snaps, "Do it... then find yourself some femmes and minibots to trash later on," he lowers himself to the ground and hefts up another piece of rubble. He flicks a glance at Monstereo. How pathetic--he can't even--oh slag... Uh oh.. He looks on in concern. Raptor continues to dig and grumbles softly, "..Where the slag--" He slams the shovel back down. Ok-- he was now getting worried about Vigil-- the guy was taking to long. Quickswitch says, "..uh." Americon glances up and growls at the Fake-ti-cons, "HEY! I am trying to dig over here! It is very distracting! However, I do appreciate your providing extra illumination for me, Mr. Ironmanowarmachine, it was getting quite dark, here!" He glances back at the hole he dug, and squints into it. "Hm.. This is very odd!" He reaches into the hole, and grunts as he tries to pull on... some fingers!? "Hey, could anybody help me with this thing?" he grunts. "This hand shaped object does not wish to leave the dirt! Perhaps it is attached to an arm?" Raptor glances over and flies swiftly over, "Move aside!" the dark seeker sneers at American and reaches in to try and yank it out. His anti-gravs kicking on as he tries to give it a little trust pull. Tricked-Out Pontiac <"Runaway"> drives over to the edge of the hole. He transforms into robot mode, revealing bits of real colors, decidedly non-Battlecharger blue and gold. Looks like his hasty disguise job wasn't all that well done. "Easy, guys! We're, uh...all on the same team here." He looks between Monstereo and Americon's hole, trying to keep an optic on each. Nightbeat transforms into robot mode. Monstereo doesn't want to look in Americon's hole, but he is a doctor so it is his job.... fingers in Americon's hole? Yikes. He trudges over for a professional look. Blueshift arrives from the Glacier to the southeast. Greymalkin arrives from the Glacier to the southeast. Raptor yanks out the arm, and flips in the air as he holds the arm in his hand, "This.. Is what /we/ were looking for?! You gotta be kidding me!" He then drops it down to Nightbeat. Greymalkin's charred body zips through the air with impressive speed for a small tape (READ: Not all that fast) heading in a beeline towards the big glowy stuff. Americon WAAAHS as he is flung backwards by the sudden release of the arm from the ground. He crashes into a stone pillar, bounces off, and flops onto the ground on his face. Raising a single finger, he groans out, "You... gotta... warn me... Starscream! If that is in fact your real name!" Monstereo folds his arms over his chest, and if he could sweat he would be right about now. The glow from the seams of his chest armor hood cover continue to glow. He watches as the arm is yanked out of Americon's hole. Looks like his doctoring isn't needed afterall. Good thing, because 'Ironmanowarmachine' is a Decepticon warrior, not some goodie two shoes Junkion doctor. The glowing emissions about him is something he is trying to avoid making a big deal of... not wanting to draw attention to himself. Blueshift blasts through the air in robot mode, pretty fast. However he is pretty charred and burnt too. "Nnn its okay Sweep, we'll leave Scrapper and that Black hole or whatever bozo to kill themselves while we get all the glory!" << I am NOT a Sweep you moron. >> comes a radio signal in Blueshift's head, beamed directly from Greymalkin - really the only way the little guy can talk. Ligier JS-11 quickly transforms and moves slightly as more Decepticons show up--and look a bit 'Charr'ed'? (OOC'ly runs from the bad pun) /I wonder what happened at the other ruin-site?/ The saboteur wonders silently, his mouth twitching in amusement. The Ligier shifts and twists to become Mirage's robot mode. Raptor shakes his hand in disgust by touch the hand. "I should have stuck there back with the others." He sneers softly and notices Blueshift comming, "Wonderful-- here comes there moron whom couldn't get out of the hole, because he forgot /he/ could /fly/." Then as he hears American, he raises an optic ridge, was he really acting like Starscream? How-- interesting... Not really, Americon is just, uh, *special.* Not quite Sped special, but pretty special. Blueshift lands on the ground heavily, putting a hand to his head as he is radioed. "GAH the voices are back!" he exclaims, stalking towards the scene. "What are you doing and why is that guy glowing, is he made of GOLD?" he questions loudly "Hey, that looks pretty cool there," Groundpounder peers at the arm in interest, "Er... who does that belong to?" Raptor rolls his optics, "Oh yes, he is /indeed/ made of Gold.." Pauses then a bark, "No He is not made of Gold, you bafoon!" The dark seeker looks over to Monstereo, "Don't you know an advance light system when you see one!? Or did they forget to install your processors right?" Vigil has arrived. Scrapper has arrived. Payloader rolls into the area in payloader mode. He's sporting a couple marks of damage on him, most noticably slashes from an energy blade. Most of them are hidden in his vehicle mode, however. He's heading towards the glow. Monstereo aka Ironmanowarmachine is purple, not gold. Look for gold from the mysteriously absent shift brother Goldshift, formerly known as Bumbleshift. "Yeah rar! Advanced light rararar..." He feels like a refridgerator that won't close all the way. The glowing light and particles floating around him oming from his chest hood is distracting and he shifts uncomfortably as if suffering indigestion. He frowns as the arm hits the ground. The doctor and Junkion in him compel him to pick it u for examination and maybe recycling... And this is a big mistake perhaps. He reaches down and snatches it up in one fluid motion.... and his chest hood armor doesn't just glow and emit little particles anymore....it THRUMS and the light becomes powerfully bright... and this is just for starters... As Monstereo touches the arm, the golden glowing flares brightly suddenly, and then, as if coming from everywhere at once, with no one starting point, the remains of the Decepticon are vapourised as a gigantic column of light roars into being, pounding up from the surface with an optic-searing brightness, the very atmosphere itself cracking, static and lightning being drawn towards it. It punches into space, like a searchlight flaring from a lighthouse... ...And then almost as soon as it appeared it was gone, leaving only the faint optical imprint of itself in the still air, before that too dissipates Vigil flies in, damaged pretty good as he lands, looking about. He looks around for Nightbeat and just walks along. Americon stands up, wiping himself off... just in time for the burst of light to roast his armor to a nice blackened crisp. The little tape stares blankly for a moment, his white optics standing out rather clearly against his now charcoal black body. "Uh... wow! That was a very impressive firework, but it is not the Fourth of July yet, so please try to hold off on the fireworks until it is! It will not be long from now, you impatient robot!" <> Scrapper asks over the Decepticon shortwave broadband frequency. Oh oh, this might be trouble for our Autobots-in-disguise, who won't receive this transmission. He's still making his way here, and his tough offroad tires make short work of the difficult Charr terrain. Americon squints as he hears something on the broadband, but he was rambling at the time so.... "Hey, uh, guys? Did you get that transmission? I was talking over it and I totally missed it!" Raptor hears the crackles and glances upward, "..oh slag.." He quickly thrusts his afterburners and the light nearly singes his foot as he tries to get away, "OOOWWW My foot!" Then quickly rolls downward behind a colum protecting his optics from the sheer light. He takes note of Scrapper and Vigil arriving after the light starts to fade. Monstereo covers his optics with the back of one hand as the blinding light flares up... he reflexively drops his goggles over his optics. "Hisssssssssssssss!" Yes that was a soundbite playback of a hissing vampire. "Turn it off turn it off turn it.... oh." The light stopped. "Uh... rar.... stupid experimental advanced lights..." He hopes that lame improvisation is helpful to the situation. Whatever that was that just happened, it does not seem to be a good thing at this time. Nightbeat watches the light blazing into the sky - or tries to, at least. His optics glow so brightly they blaze, then suddenly spark and go dim! No, he's not dead...but his modified optics seem to have shorted out - they're enhanced so much that they were even more sensitive than most to the sudden, massive dose of light from close range. "UNICRON'S HORNS!! Monstereo?! Quickswitch?! Where...what" he quickly realizes his mistake. "SLAGGIT! Cover's blown! Let's get out of here! Soembody bring that body!" His optics apparently went out before he noticed it get vaporized. "And watch out for those Decepticons!" He starts to run for the ruins, but imediately trips over Americon. Blueshift simply stands there, one arm thrown over his face, the entirety of his body that was facing the light now turned black. "Ow" he simply states as he falls over with a sickening crunch Mirage watches all of this, although is quick enough to duck behind cover before the light either blinds him or chars him to a crisp as well. What on Cybertron...? He watches the light disappear to the sky, then quickly glances at Raptor who had landed nearby. He gets up and passes just behind the 'Seeker' as he hisses, "Get Nightbeat and get out of here." And he wastes no time in putting as much distance between himself and the area. Raptor succeeds in grasping Nightbeat, throwing him off-balance. "Quickswitch?" Scrapper asks as he pulls into range. "Who's Quickswitch? Isn't that that little Autobot minibot? You know the one... transforms into a hovercraft?" Scrapper transforms into robot mode. "Monster-who?" Scrapper looks at the other Decepticons (and 'Decepticons') as Nightbeat freaks out, starts sprinting, and trips over Americon. "What?" Then Mirage mentions Nightbeat. Now NIGHTBEAT... he is a legend! "Ah... no, you've got to be kidding me..." Raptor looks around from the rock, well-- their goes there cover. He sneers slightly and stays where he is to see what happens next. His processor moving swiftly to adept next circumstances, after all-- this is how he was built to handle the Seekers, to adept to what they did, learn, and follow. Perhaps this is why he acted like this when he acted all.. Decepticon-- after all, he was designed to hunt down there best during that time! Raptor looked over to Vigil whom didn't seem all that great in shape...and a transmission was sent, slag-- Then Raptor glanced over to Mirage, slag-- if he was do that.. it would also place him right in the front of this mess. Raptor then leaped out and tackles Nightbeat. "Your an Autobot!?" He lifts him close, his crimson optics burn, "How dare you trick us! I will take you to the smelters myself!" Monstereo shakes a fist. "Uh ... Rabblerabblerabblerabble!" He rubs his chestarmor briefly... the purple paint not so purple anymore... kinda crispy. He feels it begin to crack and flake under his touch so he stops picking at it so to speak. Americon screams as he is tangled up in Nightbeat's legs. Angrily, he grabs onto one of them and begins to punch him in the shin. "I finally recognized you, you bastard! You're Nightbeat! And you lied to me! You even brought back Starscream, and he's helping you, that traitor! And Ironman--I should've known! He's human!" He stops punching for a moment as he looks at Quickswitch. "That guy, though, I dunno where you found him. But no doubt he is also a traitor!" He pulls back a fist, and the teeny little punches resume. Monstereo says, "Sna-Fu. The ancient martial art of Murphy's law. We are masters." Raptor he glares at Americon, "I am not Starscream, you dolt-bolt!" He continues to hold Nightbeat. His optics look over to Scrapper, "Now if you do not mind, I like to personally deal with this sneaky, little, auto-brat!" His optics burn with anger, "..after all, it will all be done in the glory of our great leader, Megatron." Nightbeat pulls one of his photon pistols out of reflex as he's punched. "Ow! Ow! OUCH!" Then when he's grabbed, he jabs the muzzle into Raptor's chest, judging by instinct and feel where it must be. His finger tightens on the trigger... But Nightbeat holds his fire once his processor catches up with him. His vision might be ruined, but his hearing's still highly enhanced, and his mind is as sharp as ever. Mirage was saying something about Raptor...and whoever's got him, that voice -does- sound awfully familiar. Finally, Nightbeat drops the pistol and goes limp, not struggling any more with Raptor. Mirage is already well gone by this time, so Raptor would be glancing back towards where he /had/ been. How everyone had heard him, he doesn't know--unless his near-whisper had been louder than he'd thought for some reason. But, that's not his concern--just as long as everyone makes it back to the shuttle before the full scope of this mission is discovered... Monstereo grunts and points to Americon. "This place is useless. Time to start killing ruins. I go get more blasters and hammers for break things here. You stay and start, rarrrr." He starts casually marching away. Fingers crossed. "Autobots, huh?" Scrapper snorts, reaching his pistol again. "No wonder that Blackhole fellow couldn't fight." It all makes sense now! "Decepticons, take out anyone you don't recognize! We'll sort out the rest later!" Scrapper quickly aims for Monstereo, heroically launching purple laser bolts towards the Junkion's back even as he marches away. Americon jumps like a patriotic monkey from one shin to the other. "You can't fool me, Starscream! Face my considerable wrath! Yahhhh!" He unleashes a flurry of punches at Raptor's leg, now. Over the din of little *ping* noises he yells, "Quiet, Ironman! I know who you really are, you're a human super-hero! I will not fall for your lies anymore!" He thinks for a moment. "Well, on the other hand killing the ruins would be very fun!" He jumps off of the Autobot's leg and runs around, whooping and hollaring as he randomly shoots at the stone structures. Raptor shakes his head before he kicks off carrying Nightbeat, yelling back at Americon, "I am /Not/ STARSCREAM!!!" Then the seeker was out of there! You begin following Raptor. Nightbeat says, "Everybody, get back to the shuttle! Mission's over, now we've just gotta here in one piece!" Monstereo grunts as he takes laser fire in the back, lurching forward into a stumble and then running for it! "Dang it Americon, it's Ironmanowarmachine! Use your memory stores!" Even under enemy fire, he still has a soft spot in his core for all Tapes, wanting to see them evolve and succeed. He grabs his sonic rifle from this makeshift shoulder mount and stores it away in subspace, then leaps and transforms into Monster Truck mode. His big wheels making the surface of this world his b!=ch once everyone in his party is accounted for as retreating. Raptor stills sound a tad gruff, "I think you mean 'get out of here'..." Raptor moves southeast to the Glacier. Raptor has left. You follow Raptor. You move southeast to the Glacier. You enter the Autobot Shuttle < Ol' Rusty>. Mirage has arrived. Raptor lands down on the ramp and jogs in, having a tad bit of trouble keeping his balance carrying Nightbeat. He sits Nightbeat down and coughs gently trying to clear his vocalizer holding that gruff sound as long has he did, more so-- he was just hopeing he could get his optics back to normal color and cool down his processors a tad. "..you alright..." He says softly. Vigil has arrived. The starfighter shifts and folds into itself, forming into Vigil! Monstereo has arrived. Nightbeat says, "Alright? Am I alright?! I'm blind!" He feels his way to the pilot's chair, then slowly starts activating the various systems, going completely by touch (he accidentally fires off a missile at one point, obliterating a hunk of ice, but other than his memory is good enough to do pretty well). "Who's that?!" He shouts as he hears someone entering. He pulls out his largish plasma blaster, pointing it Vigil's direction for a second before calming himself down and lowering it. "Who is that?" Monster Truck drives in up the ramp and transforms back to robot mode. "Ironmanowarmachine says we.... Er ahem... Dude, are you okay to drive?" The rugged monster truck legend in the making makes a clickety-ratcheting series of sounds as it transforms into the Junkion robot Monstereo. Vigil transforms to robot mode and enters to a plasma blaster to him. "Vigil." Vigil's voice says, back to normal. "I got into a fight with the green one, he is pretty good. Guess I am as poorly designed as I thought." Mirage fades back into existance just behind Nightbeat's chair and huffs softly. "That would be one of our newer comrades--Vigil, I believe," he states. He glances around, noting who's here and who isn't. "I think you should let someone else fly the shuttle, sir--especially if you've been blinded." Raptor watches Nightbeat struggle with the control. "..I think you should let someone else pilot, Nightbeat." He coughs again, still trying to clear his vocalizer-- slag-- this wouldn't be good. Raptor then starts to try and remove the peices of metal hidding his autobot symbol. Nightbeat stands up and stumbles his way over to the co-pilot's seat. "Okay, okay. Um...anyone of you rated for piloting?" Monstereo jogs over to Nightbeat and assesses the damage with a scan, and then starts to work on his optics, to jury rig him some limited amount of sight with a spare webcam he keeps for O-Dat... making Nightbeat a cyclops. Monstereo is effin handy. "I can pilot myself, that is it." Vigil says. "If you want, I can fly back to earth, see if we can get a spare pilot out here." He says, watching them. Nightbeat says, "Ow! Hey, what're you...hey that doesn't go...wait a second, what is...what...hmm." He turns his head from side to side, then holds up one hand in front of his face, moving it closer and farther (and poking himself in the face once before getting the hang of it). "Hey, that's not bad. Thanks Monstereo. Okay...if one of you would be so kind as to take the pilot's seat. I'll try to handle the controls, but I could use some help. I'll talk you through it." Mirage shakes his head at Vigil's suggestion. "No time. The 'Cons can easily follow us here and find us--then what do we do? We're sitting ducks." He waves faintly and takes the pilot's seat. "I'll help fly this scrap-heap back to Earth, then." Monstereo ain't flying this tihing, he's done enough for one mission. He pats Nightbeat once on the back and then for the rest of the trip goes back to the cargo hold to study the Apocalypse Box... when they land, he puts it away and returns. "Lucy, I'm hoooome!" Outside, You take flight to the Skies above Southern Nightside. (travel spam!) Outside, You descend from space to the Landing Pad . Nightbeat sits back after a ride that's even more harrowing than usual. "Whew! Now if you'll excuse me...I'm gonna order a new pair of optics!" He lurches to his feet and stumbles his way out, banging into everything in sight as he goes. Raptor had been silent the whole flight, sitting there with his optics off-line. He-- was actually rather affraid to move. Monstereo vacates and goes to find some poptarts and a beautician to re-Junkionify himself. Mirage rises from the pilot's chair, glad /that/ mission is over, then turns back to watch the others take their leave--even though it doesn't seem like Raptor's moving. "Are you alright?" He asks the Autobot Seeker, slowly sliding up his half-mask back into his helm. Not out of any clear concern, but more like a general welfare check. Raptor glances over to Mirage and his optics still crimson in color, he nodded his head gently before he stood up slowly. "Just trying-- to calm down my systems from 'fight' mode.. I guess you can say." He looks at the spy, "Call it the price I pay for the job I was designed to do." The Seeker then nods his head and then heads down the ramp. He couldn't get the sheets of metal off, the techs here did to a good of a job-- and he'll have to get PK to remove the paint as well..How he hated this-- Mirage nods once. "Fair enough," he replies, deciding against prying further. He needs a rest after using his invisibility ability so much on this mission, and everyone has their right to their own secrets. He may be a spy, but he's not a snoop--and besides, Raptor performed well on this intel mission.